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Chapter Six

K ol was oblivious to the sounds coming from the other chambers when he retreated to his own, slipping beneath the door with an effort of will.

He felt like a fraud, pretending to be the domineering, demanding lover.

She’d seen right through him. He could be that way.

He loved the heady rush he got when he was in control and his lover did as he asked, but it never began until she asked for it to begin with.

He believed Hallie would ask for it. She was the one who would see him clear of this prison once and for all, but the waiting in these last crucial moments was even more tortuous than the past five hundred years.

He hid inside the huge, rigid prison of his body, the massive black dragon the Council had insisted he become before the temple was locked down and they were all frozen in their assigned chambers.

His true form. But the truth was, he’d long since begun to hate himself for his shape.

The urge for dominance was overwhelming after living that way, even in stasis.

And in spite of it, he still hadn’t been able to convince her of his need to possess her.

The door finally opened, but he kept silent, waiting to see what she would do. Two figures slipped in. One stood within the dim light of the entrance, the second moved in from behind to stand in a dark corner.

“Did she come willingly? You didn’t force her, did you?”

“Yes, Shadow. She found me and asked me to explain the ritual in detail. She is here by her own choice,” Kris answered out loud, causing Hallie to jerk in surprise.

“Where is he, Kris? I can’t see a goddamn thing in here.” But Kris didn’t answer. Kol knew it was up to him now, and up to Hallie to make a decision.

He sent his breath past her to push the door closed with a soft thud. After all these years cursing the darkness, somehow he felt too exposed even with the tiny amount of light that had come through that door.

Hallie’s heartbeat seemed the loudest thing in the room. Kol manifested his shadow into his chosen form in front of her.

“Follow my voice,” he said.

“Can’t you turn on a light or light a torch or something. You said you’d show yourself to me if I came. Why can’t I see you?”

She still hadn’t moved from her spot.

“Hallie, you can trust me. I can see you fine. I won’t let you fall. Come toward my voice.”

She barked out a harsh laugh that betrayed her lack of conviction in his words.

“Trust you? I know better than to trust a man who believes he can own me. Did you actually think that would work? Tell me, did it work on Erika? Camille? Did those dragons convince the women they should be their slaves? I highly doubt it. I know them. They wouldn’t give in any more than I would. ”

He winced at her misunderstanding of the situation. The other women had given in, as had the men, but they hadn’t known the truth beforehand, either.

“Wake me first, please. Then I will tell you everything.”

“Tell me just one thing now, all right? Can I leave this temple without doing what you want me to do?”

“No. The doors above are closed. They won’t open again until the ritual is complete.”

“Well, okay then.” She took a soft footstep toward him, then another. “As long as I’m trapped, you might as well finish what you started earlier.”

The determination in her voice was unexpected. She was going to go through with it, willing or not. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. She had to want him to wake up and mark her, and not just because she was trapped if she didn’t.

“It’s true that if you don’t wake me you can’t leave, but it your presence here was Fated.

You being in this room was inevitable, but I want you to want this.

To choose this, despite knowing there is no real choice.

Your friends understand because the other dragons are …

” He paused, hating what he was about to say.

He released a heavy breath through his nostrils.

“They’re better at this part of attracting humans than I am. ”

“What was that?” she asked, cocking her head to one side. “I saw a light somewhere behind you. Do that again!”

The breath he’d just exhaled had not come from this form, which didn’t breathe so much as sense, because it was his breath.

When he’d let out that long sigh, the breath had come from his static form in the back of the room, on the far end of the pool.

He emitted another breath and watched the dark light of it illuminate his long, shiny snout and brows, and the horned crown of his head where it rested in slumber along the pair of huge foreclaws.

Rather than let the breath recede into his lungs again, he let it continue, pushing the magic residue back over his sleeping body until it settled on the entire surface of his skin, leaving him glowing as though in phantom moonlight.

“Is that you?” Hallie asked, awestruck. She walked faster toward him. Too fast in the darkness.

“Wait, stop!” he called out, nearly too late to keep her stepping headlong into the pool.

“What? I can’t believe you think you’re worse at attracting humans. Can’t you see how beautiful you are? And that stunt you pulled earlier. Very forward way to seduce a woman, sneaking into her dreams like that. But you know what? It worked on me.”

“I didn’t … What do you mean it worked?”

“Listen, dummy, I disagree with your approach, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t absolutely love what you were doing.

I’m doing this because I choose to. Because I want to.

Consider me an adventurous spirit. And because whatever magic is in the air—water—whatever—in this temple is making me the horniest I’ve ever been in my life. And trust me, that’s saying something.”

“Sweet Mother, I don’t know if I’m ready for women in this century,” Kol muttered.

“So, you’ll adapt.” He could hear the smile in her voice and relief washed over him. “Now tell me why you made me stop.”

“You’re about to get very wet if you don’t.”

She let out a throaty little laugh. “I thought that was the plan. Get me hot and bothered, then have your way with me? It’s a little late for that.”

Kol smiled to himself. She had a point, and she also had a wicked sense of humor. The idea that he could have a woman so self-assured that might still willingly submit to him thrilled him. And he thought he might just play along a little bit to see how she responded.

“Well,” he said, lowering his voice, “You should take off your clothes before you take another step.”